New Digs
by SilenceoftheLlamas
Summary: Emil Västerström's university experience can be summed up in exactly five words: Should Not Have Done That. Being thrown into a student house with 5 complete strangers couldn't possibly be that bad, could it?
1. Chapter 1

Emil smoothed down his hair as he stepped out onto the platform.

The sound of the city could be heard even over the roar of the train speeding away behind him, and it sounded amazing. Scanning the crowd, he spotted his aunt and uncle waving to him from where they were waiting.

"Thank goodness you made it!" His aunt called as he approached them. "We were worried for a moment there."

"I'm on time." Emil replied, dumping his cases at their feet. "Are we walking?"

"Of course." His uncle scoffed, "It's free."

Emil internally groaned as he picked his luggage back up and lugged it behind his aunt and uncle. The walk was at least half an hour from the station to their house, made even more excruciating by the heavy bags, and the muggy weather. His hair was doomed.

Well, he could always quickly shower before he left for his student digs.

That was why he was there, of course. His first year of university! A self-proclaimed prodigy, now flying the nest and joining the fitful mess that was the student population. What a splendid thing to boast about at the next family gathering.

He had been quite lucky, really. He'd found a place not even a stones throw from the university campus, with 6 rooms, and a separate kitchen and dining room. It didn't take poverty to be able to appreciate that particular arrangement, not at all! He didn't know who the other people he would be living with were, but it was always nice to meet people.

He hoped they were tidy.

"Emil! Emil!"

Three pairs of feet thundered towards him, and Emil briefly realised that they had arrived before three small bodies collided with him, all shrieking in delight and rattling off question after question.

"Are you living with us?"

"Can we play together?"

"Am I going to school with you?"

"Can I live with you?"

"Are you staying?"

Their mother had faded into the woodwork as soon as her children had delighted with the sight of Emil, their father trying to prise them off of their poor cousin. "Now, now," he said, putting them down and turning to see that they had already clung back on in a losing war, "don't ask so many questions at once. One at a time."

"I'm not staying for long this time." Emil apologised, "but I always have time for a game."

The three cheered before dragging him inside, their father throwing a floor skyward and muttering a prayer before following them.

* * *

Lalli arrived in a foul mood.

He hated trains, he despised boats, but _planes_? His _nemesis_. Screw scratchy blankets, it was the flying tin cans Tuuri insisted were called aeroplanes who took top spot.

They could have taken a boat. Lalli had seen that they could have while flicking through a brochure waiting for their flight. But Tuuri had wanted to fly, and so fly they did.

Lalli's stomach would never forgive him.

"The rest of our stuff should arrive soon." Tuuri chirped to the stony-faced Lalli, cheerfully nattering away as she dragged her suitcase down the steps from the airport. "So we'll just get a taxi and get to our house, okay?"

"This isn't home." Lalli pointed out as he trailed after her, his own suitcase considerably lighter.

"It will be for the next three years, Lalli. Please try to make this work."

Lalli didn't grace her with an answer.

Tuuri piled into the front seat of the taxi while Lalli slipped into the back, tucking his knees into his chest as he stared out of the window and tried to ignore the looks the driver was giving him.

Their house was quaint, Lalli decided. While Tuuri dealt with the driver and payment, Lalli had swiped her keys and was unlocking the front door before she could stop him. He pulled his suitcase inside and surveyed the room.

The entry hall was a small porch, which lead on to the kitchen and dining area, separated by a thin glass door that slid into the wall. Lalli kicked off his shoes as he padded in. There were no other shoes on the rack, so he assumed he was alone.

The kitchen lead into a small bathroom that stank of cheap candles, the garden, and the living room. The shelf was empty in there and Lalli assumed that they'd have to fill it themselves. There were worn sofas and thick, fluffy blankets. Lalli stroked the closest one. It wasn't scratchy.

One door lead into a stairwell, and another into a bedroom. The handle was much heavier, and upon closer inspection he noticed that it could be locked by a key. Lalli took one look at the room and decided that he did not like it.

He went back to the stairwell and noticed another door with a similar handle. He opened it.

Yes. He liked this room.

He quickly grabbed his suitcase as he saw Tuuri struggling up the path and ran it into his chosen room, almost dropping it in his haste. This room! He wanted this one!

"Lalli!" Tuuri wheezed as she managed to haul her suitcase inside, "You can't do that!"

"Do what?" He innocently asked as he came round to watch her struggle.

"Run off like that! You should have waited."

Lalli simply shrugged and left to investigate upstairs. He could hear Tuuri pottering around downstairs and paid no mind to it as he peered in through doors and scrunched his face at almost every single room.

As he came back downstairs, he looked out of the window and saw another human being walking up the path with a purposeful stride, and a small hoard of children following him as they dragged various bags behind him, and two other adults.

He stiffened for a moment before slinking back into his claimed room. Hoping no one would barge in, he crawled under the bed and listened hard.

The key jangled in the lock. The pause as they registered the shoes in the shoe rack.

"Hello?" They called out. Lalli felt his chest throb at their voice and was almost convinced it was a sign he was going to die.

Thankfully, Tuuri was downstairs to deal with them. "Hullo!" She tottered over to him, all sunshine and fake rainbows. "I'm Tuuri! My cousin Lalli is somewhere, probably in his room. It's nice to meet you!"

"I'm Emil." The stranger continued, and Lalli had to hold two fingers to his neck to check his pulse. Was his heart not working correctly? "These are my cousins, they're helping me get my things here."

The three small humans all chatted away and Lalli clamped his hands over his ears. Nope! Nope nope nope! Disgusting voices!

The two adults and Emil went on to have a private conversation in a gibberish he couldn't understand, and he thought he heard Tuuri tell the small ones that one was adopted. He snorted into the carpet.

Silly Tuuri.

About twenty minutes later, after goodbyes had been exchanged and the door had shut with a sound of finality, Lalli deemed it safe to crawl out from under his bed.

He peered out to see a pile of bags by the staircase, and Tuuri standing in front of his door with arms crossed over her chest and angrily tapping her foot as she frowned at him.

"What?" He asked her in their native tongue.

"You know what." She replied. "You can't ignore these people forever."

"I can."

Tuuri threw her hands up in annoyance. "Yeah, whatever, Lalli. Help us get our bags up?"

Having noting better to do, Lalli grabbed the closest bag and hauled it up the stairs-

And bumped straight into a stranger.

Lalli stumbled away with a muffled sound as the stranger jumped about a foot into the air with a strangled shriek. Their blond hair brushed their shoulders, seeming to sparkle, and they looked up in surprise. Lalli felt his chest do that stupid thing again as his stomach filled with butterflies.

He didn't know what that meant.

"Oh- I'm sorry!" Emil - Lalli assumed- rushed over to steady him. "I didn't see you. You must be Lalli! I'm Emil. It's nice to meet you."

Lalli peered over Emils shoulder and saw Tuuri giving him a look that promised pain if he didn't reply.

"... You too."

Emil seemed satisfied with that reply. "I can handle my own bags." Emil assured them. "Thanks for your help anyway."

Lalli nodded and retreated back downstairs, pushing his thoughts to the back of his head. They had no place here.

* * *

A few hours later saw Tuuri shoving a tray into Lallis hands and insisting that he brought it up to the strange blond man. With glare, Lalli begrudgingly obliged. It wasn't as if she would pay any attention to his protests, anyway. He gently knocked on the door before pushing it open.

Emil was passed out on his bed, mouth hanging open as he snored. His bags sat empty next to the wardrobe. Lalli set down the tray on the desk, careful to not upset the steaming mug he carried, as he peered in a few drawers and through a crack in the wardrobe. They had unpacked all of their things already.

He turned his attention back to the sleeping man. Careful to not upset any creaky floorboards, he tip-tied over and inspected them closely. Soft, feather like eyelashes looked almost dewey in the faint light, his skin looking like a peach. Hair like woven gold spilled out onto the pillow beneath his head, one arm tucked underneath it while the other lay just under his chin.

Lalli prodded him in the chest. He wasn't entirely sure how to deal with this odd feeling in his stomach, or the urge to nap with them, so he'd ignore the former and promptly quench the latter by waking him.

The weird gibberish he was speaking earlier spilled out as he quickly sat up, rubbing at his eyes. Lalli simply pointed at the tray he'd brought up until Emil followed it and spotted the mug of tea and plate of biscuits.

"Thank you, Lalli." Email sleepily said, rubbing at his eyes. "I suppose I'd better go downstairs and join you both."

Lalli didn't know how to reply to that, so he simply trotted back downstairs, grabbed his laptop, and curled up in the sitting room with the fluffy blanket wrapped around him.

Emil came down a few moments later, mug in one hand, laptop tucked under his arm, and a chocolate digestive in his mouth. He nodded at Tuuri, who was kneeling at the coffee table with her own steaming mug and thick tome, before sitting down next to Lalli. He was careful to not invade his personal space, even when he leaned over to put his mug onto the table.

"Any ideas when the others will arrive?" Emil asked as he booted up his laptop.

"Haven't a clue." Tuuri replied. "What did you say you were studying again?"

"Oh!" Emil almost dropped his biscuit. "Chemical and environmental engineering. What about you two?"

"I'm studying Northern European studies with history." Tuuri proudly replied before gesturing to her cousin, "Lalli is studying Archaeology and Geography."

Lalli simply made a sound of agreement before turning back to his laptop.

"Archaeology?" Emil asked, turning to Lalli. "I didn't realise that was a course."

"Oh, it is!" Tuuri excitedly assured him. "Lalli is pretty good at it."

Lalli looked slightly irritated that his cousin had spoken for him, but couldn't bring himself to feel too angry about it. It got him out of talking.

Emil looked slightly put off, however. He didn't voice it.

The three dug out some frozen pizzas for dinner that night, deciding that they'd make something extravagant, or order in takeout, when the rest of their housemates arrived. Tuuri turned in early, Lalli scandalised to discover that she had taken the other bedroom on the ground floor as opposed to an upstairs one like she had said earlier, realising that she had lied in order to force him to socialise, which left Lalli and Emil to watch bad TV together. Emil seemed to be comfortable enough, sipping on his drink as he snorted at the cheesy jokes and godawful pick-up lines.

Lalli slowly allowed himself to relax into the plush cushions. Maybe the strange feeling he got was simply because Emil was a stranger, maybe they were just nerves. He'd have to live with him for the next three years, so getting on was a must.

Slowly, he allowed his heavy eyelids to droop shut.

* * *

The TV turned off with a soft click as Emil carefully got up from the sofa, deciding it best to leave Lalli there. From the way he had shied away from reaching hands and arms earlier, Emil summarised that Lalli wasn't big on the whole touching business and he wasn't about to touch him while he was unconscious and prone. That was just... Rude, and the thought left a bad taste in his mouth. Still, he couldn't bare to leave his hair as it was. Leaning forwards, he quickly ruffled it so it looked more presentable before turning around to busy himself with something else. He put their empty glasses on the side in the kitchen before creeping back in to retrieve his laptop and head upstairs.

Once settled upstairs, Emil grabbed his phone and called his parents. He wasn't sure which time zone he was in now, so he had no idea if it was early or late back home - especially considering he had slept earlier and so was not tired - and could only hope he hadn't woken them up.

"Hello?" His mothers sleepy voice answered.

"Hello, mother." Emil replied. "Did I wake you up?"

"Yes, yes, but no matter. Did you get there okay?"

"I got here just fine, auntie and uncle met me at the station and helped me move my things over. I'm all moved in now."

"That's good. Who else are you living with?"

"I've met two of them- Finns. Cousins, I think. The others haven't arrived yet."

"You're living with- with savages?!" His mother hissed down the phone. Emil nodded despite how his mother wouldn't be able to see it.

"I'll live. I'll call you tomorrow."

"Please don't do anything rash!"

"Sleep well."

Emil hung up and stared at his contact list for a few moments, eyes glazed over.

Welp. They still hadn't changed stances on that, then.

Slipping into his pyjamas, Emil tried his best to sleep.

Only to be woken up a few hours later to the sound of someone pulling something very heavy up the stairs. He sprung out of bed and peered under his door, seeing a pair of feet and a large suitcase.

Cautiously, he pulled on a t-shirt and peered out of his door to catch a flash of bright red hair.

Another housemate had arrived. He glanced at his clock.

7:30am.

What.

The.

Fuck.

Who arrived that early?!

Emil was half of mind to storm out there and let them know exactly what they thought of this nonsense, but he caught a glimpse of Tuuri grinning up at him from downstairs and felt some of his anger melt away. He simply gestured in the direction of the red head and pulled a face.

Tuuri waved him downstairs, and so begrudgingly he obliged.

"She's a housemate from Norway!" Tuuri excitedly explained as though it excused everything. "She used to be in the army. This is pretty late in the morning for her."

Emil grunted. " _I_ was in the army too, and I still find this far too early."

"Y-you were?" Tuuri uncertainly said, looking Emil up and down. He tried his best to ignore that, but it still stung.

"Yes, I was." He hissed back. "I'm on temporary leave until I finish my degree."

"You don't look like you're in the army." Tuuri frowned at him, leaning in closer as though to inspect him.

Emil pouted at her. Just wriggle the knife around, Tuuri. Just wriggle it around.

"Ah! Hello!" The Norwegian shouted down at them, leaning excitedly over the bannister. Emil was thankful for the distraction. "Captain Sigrun, a pleasure to meet you." She jogged down the stairs two at a time, and Emil noticed that one of her arms looked... Significantly _stiffer_ than the other.

Maybe she'd left due to an injury?

They firmly shook hands, Sigrun crushing his slighter one. He tried to not wince too hard, that tended to just encourage them. "Emil." He choked out.

"Excellent!" She released him from her vice grip before grabbing her other bags and hefting them up. "Well, I'll just get myself upstairs and let you two go back to bed. See you later!"

And with that she tromped back upstairs, leaving Tuuri and Emil to share a bewildered look.

What had just happened?

Tuuri simply shook her head and walked back to her room, badly stifling a yawn, while Emil quickly went to the living room to see if Lalli was still there.

There was a lump of blanket on the floor. He knelt down and cautiously lifted the corner. A pair of bright, bright eyes stared right back.

"Lalli?"

"Mmr."

"Come on, you're going to hurt your back." Emil tried to encourage him to crawl out to no avail. Lalli didn't seem to be interested in moving.

"I'm not above carrying you." Emil warned.

That certainly got Lalli moving. With a groan, he wrapped the blanket closer to himself and stood up, slinking away towards his room like a scolded cat. Emil watched him with a faint satisfaction before retreating back to his own room. He stripped the t-shirt back off and crawled back into bed.

Lalli did not go back to his bed.

He had never managed to sleep in the conventional places. A bed was not somewhere to sleep for him. Underneath it was a different story entirely, however, but this time he wasn't planning on sleeping in his room.

Carefully, he cracked his window open and slipped out. Right outside his window was a tall, tall tree. If he could climb it, he could sleep all he wanted entirely undisturbed. No Tuuri shaking him awake and scolding him for not using a bed, no strange red haired woman loudly shouting him awake, and no Emil.

It would be perfect.

Once settled in he branches, he let his eyes droop shut again, confident that the leaves of the tree would hide him well enough to buy him a few more hours of privacy.

* * *

His alarm went off at 9am.

With a groan, Emil smacked the off button and lay face down in his bed for a moment before sighing and pushing himself up. It wouldn't do to succumb to the temptation of the snooze button now - he had to keep to his old habits if he wanted to pass this semester.

Stumbling out of bed, he threw open his curtains and stretched in the early morning sunshine.

A strangled choking sound made his eyes fly open.

Lalli was sat in the fork of two branches, his eyes as wide as saucers as the two stared at each other in stunned silence. Two hands were clamped over Lallis mouth, his face slowly turning red for a reason Emil couldn't quite identify. Embarrassment at being caught in a tree? Suffocation? Shock?

Emil didn't quite know what to do, so he simply slowly drew the curtains again while maintaining solid eye contact, and slowly sank down to the floor.

Why.

Why did he do that.

What could have possibly possessed him to do that? To think that was a good idea?

With a groan, Emil scrubbed his hands down his face. With a cringe he realised that he had stubble peppering his face. He must have looked a right state! How awful!

Quickly pulling on a t-shirt, he grabbed his toiletries bag and stumbled into the bathroom.

Lalli, on the other hand, was still in the tree, firmly demanding that the tree swallowed him up and never spat him back out. He hadn't meant to be seen. He didn't realise that someone had chosen the room directly above his own! And it just had to be Emil, didn't it! The stupid idiot hadn't even noticed that he was there, stretching his arms wide and throwing his chest out, a satisfied smile on his face as he basked in the sunlight. Lalli hadn't meant to make a noise. If he hadn't, he may not have been seen.

 _Ugh_.

He hoped this hadn't just made it awkward.

Gingerly, he descended and slipped back in to his room.

Please don't say anything to Tuuri, please please please! She would never let him live it down, forever lecturing him about what was socially acceptable and what wasn't. He was doing just fine on his own, thank you very much!

He quietly grabbed his toiletries and escaped into the downstairs bathroom, locking the door firmly behind him.

* * *

Sigrun watched the Finn with a bemused expression as he scampered out of his room and into the bathroom, covered in leaves and furiously blushing.

Well, that was a fine first impression.

"Don't mind him." Tuuri sighed as she placed a steaming mug in front of Sigrun. "He's a little... Different."

"We all have our quirks." Sigrun replied, leaning her elbows on the table as she rested her hand on her cheek. Metal glinted as it caught the sun and Tuuri barely stifled her gasp.

"I-I'm sorry, I-" she spluttered when Sigrun glanced at her.

Sigrun waved her off. "I'm used to it."

Tuuri nodded and tried to not focus too much on the glaringly obvious prosthetic arm. "So," she tried, attempting to change the topic, "what should we make for breakfast?"

"I already ate this morning." Sigrun replied as she took a sip of her coffee. "What do we have? I'll do a food run."

"We already have some Rivita, some cheese, a packet of ham..." Tuuri counted them off on her fingers. "I don't think we have any cereal yet."

"I'll go in a bit."

"I'll come with! I'll need to learn where it is, anyway."

"More the merrier." She took another swig of her coffee as Lalli left the bathroom. "Morning, Twig!"

"Morning Lalli! This is Sigrun. What do we say?"

"... Hello."

"Did you want to come to the supermarket with us later on?" She asked. Lalli quickly shook his head and hastily retreated into his room. Sigrun simply accepted this with a nod as she downed the rest of her coffee and got up to grab some juice.

"Ugh! I'm so sorry about him. I'll make him come with us." Tuuri scraped her chair back as she made to stand, but Sigrun pushed her back down into her seat.

"Leave it, it's fine. There's always another time."

"I suppose." Tuuri mumbled as she looked at the door Lalli had disappeared behind.

Lalli jumped up onto his bed and pulled his laptop onto his lap, deciding to focus his attention onto his course. It started in five days, so he thought that he may as well read around the subject a little. Prepare himself for what he was about to get himself into. He loaded up the first powerpoint that had been uploaded and checked their reading list. It all looked expensive, and he shuddered at the though of getting a part time job to be able to afford all of this.

In a separate tab, he began looking for job vacancies.

He heard the sound of Emil coming downstairs, and he fought to keep his face neutral. It was highly unlikely that Emil would go into his room anyway, but he may have wanted to… _talk_ , about what had happened earlier, and Lalli wasn't sure he was ready for that just yet. Their common language wasn't exactly his forte, and he wasn't sure that he knew all the words to explain anything. Tuuri probably did, but did he want _her_ to explain it? No. Hell no. She omitted things and always gave him a pitying look instead as though she were trying to protect him.

He didn't want to be protected.

After about forty-five minutes of pure, blissful solitude, Emil gently knocked at his door.

"Hey, Lalli?" He asked, sticking his head in. "The others are about to go to the supermarket, was there anything you wanted?"

Lalli was quiet for a moment, thinking over his answer.

"Cookies." He said with an air of finality, giving a nod.

"Any particular kind?"

Lalli shook his head.

Emil left. He didn't close the door.

Lalli's eye twitched in annoyance.

The Swede relayed the message on to Sigrun and Tuuri, who then left with an updated shopping list. After they'd done a sweep of the house, they realised that they were missing some basics, such as bleach, drain cleaner, and dish soap. Their other two housemates hadn't arrived yet, either, so they supposed that it was best to get everything now before they saw the state of disarray that they'd been landed in. Once he was sure they were gone, he allowed himself to slowly sit down in a kitchen chair.

Was it a good idea to ignore what had happened earlier? Surely Lalli hadn't intended to be there – well, it was difficult to not intend to be up in a tree when you had gotten yourself up there – but, hadn't intended to be looking directly into his room. Lalli didn't even know which room was his… right? Right?

Emil fiddled at the edge of his collar. Perhaps he was over thinking this. Lalli had looked as shocked as he was; it was simply an honest mistake. Nothing more, and nothing less. That's what he was telling himself. It meant nothing, it was nothing.

His head snapped up when he heard shuffling, and he saw Lalli still in his pyjamas shuffle into the kitchen and grab a carton of apple juice out of the fridge. He grabbed a glass and poured himself some while Emil watched.

Emil suddenly felt incredibly overdressed. There Lalli was, looking relaxed and comfortable in his baggy clothing, while Emil was dressed in a shirt, with a blue jumper over the top and a pair of black jeans. He couldn't help but feel like his father.

"I'm sorry about last night," Emil suddenly said, not entirely sure why he'd wanted to break the silence between them, "you looked so tired, I thought it best to leave you there."

Lalli just shrugged as he put the apple juice back in the fridge. "Sorry about this morning. Didn't think anyone was in that room."

"It's fine."

"Tuuri will scold me if she knows."

"I haven't said anything." Emil assured him. "It was a mistake, she doesn't need to know."

Lalli stood in place for a moment before padding over to the table and sitting down next to him. The chair made a quiet creak as it took his weight.

"You shaved." He commented.

Emil felt like he were being scrutinised. "I- I did. What of it?"

"Nothing."

Emil rubbed at his chin, suddenly feeling incredibly self-conscious. Did he miss a spot? Was it all red and irritated?

"Your face is good."

Emil choked on air, looking at Lalli for an explanation. Luckily, the Finn wasn't quite finished yet.

"It's smooth." Lalli ran two fingers down his jaw. "No patches."

Emil mutely nodded, trying his hardest to fight the red that was threatening to take over his face. Was he being teased?!

His saving grace was the sound of a phone vibrating in Lalli's room. They sighed and stood, leaving their juice behind, as they trotted into their room and shut the door. Emil sighed and slumped into his seat, his face still burning where Lalli's fingers had been.

He was so doomed.


	2. Chapter 2

Lalli, as it turned out, seemed to live solely off of cookies. Emil certainly didn't envy his dentist.

"Isn't this awful for his teeth?" Emil had asked Tuuri after they watched Lalli eat his way through an entire packet of Maryland cookies. Tuuri just shrugged.

"He's never had a cavity."

Emil refused to believe that.

"He's probably just not told you." Emil argued.

"I'm in charge of his dentist appointments." Tuuri proudly replied, "I'd know."

Emil just grunted and drank his tea.

Three days before their lectures were due to start, a huge bear of a man arrived. He introduced himself as Mikkel, and had somehow managed to assimilate into their household with very little input other than sarcastic comments and very poor dad jokes.

Mikkel was a genius when it came to baking cookies. If Lalli had ever clambered somewhere to hide and they couldn't find him, simply enlisting Mikkel to bake a batch of cookies, or rattling the cookie jar, summoned him. Emil was nearly convinced that if Lalli were a demon, all one would need to do is place a pile of cookies inside a pentagram and wait.

"So, as our newest housemate, Mikkel! You can choose what we have for dinner." Tuuri said as the five of them were crammed around the table. Sigrun had Google open on her phone so they could simply type in what they desired, and menus from various takeaways were littered on the table. Mikkel stroked his chin.

"I thought I was the last to arrive?"

The others looked at each other. "What?"

"But there are six rooms?" Emil replied.

"The sixth housemate pulled out unexpectedly." Mikkel said.

"How do you know this?" Sigrun narrowed her eyes at him. Mikkel gave one of his signature quirks of his mouth.

"I have kept in correspondence with the landlady."

"You silver fox, you." Sigrun punched his arm. "So! Special dinner tonight, then!"

"I vote Chinese!"

The word Chinese seemed to instil a sense of excitement into everyone; except Lalli, but no one ever really knew what he was thinking. So they grabbed the menu to their local, and began to write down their orders on the back of an envelope.

"So how did you guys do Chinese takeaways with your families?" Tuuri asked as she twirled the pen in her fingers. "We just picked what we wanted and ate what we had."

"My family picked their own noodles and shared the other dishes." Emil replied, running some fingers through his hair.

"What?" Sigrun dropped her phone on the table and rounded on Emil. "I do the exact opposite!"

"Many varied views." Mikkel rumbled.

Eventually, they decided a pick and mix was the best option. That way, Emil thought, Lalli would be able to find at least one thing he liked and actually eat something that wasn't a cookie.

While Mikkel gave their impressive food order to the restaurant on the telephone, Tuuri went about setting up the table while Sigrun 'helped' (read: watched while she chatted utter shit). Lalli had retreated into his room, leaving Emil standing awkwardly in the living room, not sure what to do with himself.

"Oh! Emil!" Tuuri poked her head out the kitchen. "Could you go get us some drinks?"

"Like what?" Emil asked as he went to put his shoes on.

"Anything really. I'd like some lemonade, can you ask Lalli what he wants?"

"Sure."

Emil gently knocked on Lalli's door.

"Lalli?"

No response.

Curious, he opened the door and peered inside. The window was wide open, the curtains billowing in a gentle breeze. Lalli was nowhere to be seen.

Emil had a vague idea of where he could be.

Sighing to himself, Emil tromped upstairs and into his room. Sure enough, there Lalli was, perched in the tree again and fast asleep.

"He's going to catch a cold." Emil grumbled as he grabbed a spare blanket and wondered what the best way to throw it at him was.

The wind decided for him, ripping it out of his hands before he realised what was happening. Barely stifling his gasp, Emil watched in barely restrained horror as the blanket flew...

... Straight onto Lalli. Well, at least it kind of reached its target, right? Emil grabbed his wallet and his earphones after a moments consideration before going back downstairs.

"He's asleep." Emil said as he pulled on his coat. "What does he usually drink?"

"Some days bubbles irritate him, other days they don't." Tuuri hummed in reply. "Just get him some apple juice."

"Anything else I'm getting?" Emil asked.

"I am fine with what we have." Mikkel replied. Sigrun shouted out her order of coke - cherry coke, Emil hastily reminded himself. The cherry was important. She'd shouted it three times.

Zipping his coat up, Emil stepped outside.

* * *

Dinner was a traumatic event.

That wasn't to say it was bad; no, quite the opposite. It was wonderful in retrospect, and something Emil would come to look back on fondly, but at the time?

He'd wished that it'd be over.

Once Emil found the supermarket, he grabbed two bottles of lemonade, a bottle of cherry coke, and a couple cartons of apple juice. After a few moments of consideration, he picked up a bottle of appletiser. Maybe Lalli would tolerate this? The woman serving him at the checkout didn't even spare him a glance as she scanned in his items and spewed their rehearsed lines in the same deadpan tone. He paid and hastily left.

When he got home, Sigrun had grabbed the drinks from him and dumped them on the side. Emil put the juice in the fridge and watched in fascination as Sigrun opened up the cherry coke and drank straight from the bottle.

 _Savage_!

Tuuri came in a few moments later and visibly bit her cheek to stop herself from making a comment – despite Sigrun being, as best as Emil could describe, a noodle, she had somehow managed to get herself on to the top of the pecking order in their house. They'd all put it down to her military background but they weren't always so sure. Tuuri knew better than to scold her.

Emil ran upstairs to dump his things back in his room and quickly checked outside his window. Lalli wasn't there anymore, and nor was his blanket. Humming to himself, Emil returned downstairs and got himself a drink while he waited for the Chinese to arrive.

Lalli had eventually emerged from his room when he heard the words 'we have apple juice' being whispered through the crack in his door, and he had helped himself to a glass of appletiser after a moments consideration (Emil hid his smile in his own drink, and he'd deny it that he was grinning if anyone asked). He plonked himself down on the sofa next to Emil, nursing the glass in both hands, and quietly listened to the conversations going on around him. Sigrun and Mikkel seemed to be sharing military stories – it turned out that Mikkel had also been in the army, although he'd left of his own accord for reasons he wasn't willing to divulge – and Tuuri was eagerly listening like a puppy. Emil had been listening and chipping in his own stories, but he'd been quickly distracted by Lalli. There were still leaves in his hair.

Gingerly, he leaned over and plucked one out. Lalli twitched and narrowed his eyes at him before Emil simply brandished the leaf and the look melted away. Lalli pushed his glass into Emil's hands and he ran his fingers through his hair, working out any remaining leaves and throwing them onto a paper towel Tuuri had set out for him. He folded the leaves into it and got up to chuck it in the bin, getting himself another paper towel before returning.

The other three had been too engrossed in their own conversation to notice, despite being less than four feet away. Emil was glad for that.

And then the Chinese arrived. Mikkel graciously handled the delivery man while the others arranged themselves around their small table and bickered about what Harry Potter to put on while they ate ("Chamber of Secrets is the best one!"  
"Are you joking? The Goblet of Fire wins by far."), and Lalli poured himself another glass.

Eventually they'd decided to start from the beginning with The Philosophers Stone, and had agreed to watch the next one every Saturday. How long that would last for Emil didn't know, but it felt… good, to have plans with the people he lived with. To have a set time to spend at least a little time together. It wasn't something he ever got at home.

But then hell began.

Emil hadn't ever really _explored_ with his food. He considered himself a picky eater, so many things he turned his nose up at without even trying them. It was a tremendous downfall and something he hated about himself, so as he looked at the various take-out containers that covered their coffee table, he decided to branch out a little.

And bit straight into a chilli.

He couldn't feel his tongue, his eyes immediately streaming as he began choking. Sigrun laughed at his misfortune, stumbling up to get him a glass of milk while wiping tears from her eyes. Mikkel simply shook his head at him and made sure Emil hadn't actually eaten the chilli, while Tuuri and Lalli hid their laughter behind their hands. Emil narrowed his eyes at them while he guzzled the milk Sigrun handed to him. _Traitors_.

Once Emil could feel his face again, he picked everything red off his plate and dumped it onto his paper towel. Not this time, you red devils. His eyes were still watering, but not so badly as to blur his vision. With as much grace as he could muster, he continued eating.

Until he noticed Lalli staring at him. Uncertain, Emil slowly lowered his fork and looked down at himself. Had he spilled something-

Oh, _bastard_! He had!

His face burned and almost turned as red as it did when he'd eaten the chilli, and he quickly excused himself to get another paper towel to wipe his shirt down.

How embarrassing!

Once they'd all finished eating, Emil helped with putting the leftovers away. Mostly to keep himself away from Lalli, who kept _staring at him_. It made him feel slightly self-conscious. Had he spilled something down himself again? Was something on his face?

Tuuri came in with the empty cartons. "Are you okay?" She asked Emil when she saw him standing still at the side, both hands braced on the counter top. "Did you eat another chilli?"

Emil hastily shook his head. "No, no. I'm fine." He assured her, ensuring the lid was properly on a takeout box and shoving it into the fridge. "Honestly."

"Is Lalli staring at you again?" Tuuri asked with embarrassment. "I'm sorry, he does that a lot. He's probably waiting for you to do something again."

"It's fine." Emil assured her. He felt a little better now he knew why Lalli was continuing to stare – he was probably waiting for Emil to spill food down his front again.

Ugh.

Sure enough, when he came back and sat on the sofa, Lalli didn't spare him much more than a glance.

* * *

Their courses weren't so bad, they supposed.

The introductory week went by as expected: very easy. The course was simply outlined, and then some of the basic subject matter was touched upon to ease them into it.

Week two was a little harder. They were getting deeper into the subject, building on old concepts they'd done at A-level. Nothing too spectacular. Week three was the same, as was week four. Manageable. They could do this.

But then came week 5. Reports and essays were due, class tests were on the horizon; work was to be done. While Mikkel and Sigrun didn't even seem to be fazed in the slightest by the abrupt change in pace, the two simply breezing through it while relaxing with their laptops on their knees and a mug of coffee clasped in their hand, a pen in their free one, Tuuri, Emil, and Lalli did not fare so well. Tuuri spent most of her time at university, knuckling down in the library and in her various study groups (no one knew quite how she'd found the things), Lalli simply quietly studied and read various journals and books, scrunching his hands in his hair and sometimes ripping it out when he got too overwhelmed, while Emil suffered.

Why did he pick this degree? Why? He should have done something else. Philosophy would have been better. Then again, Mikkel was on that course. He couldn't have that. Perhaps a History degree then. Much better. Or even a language degree.

If he saw one more state symbol, he was going to punch himself out and throw himself off the roof. Possibly while gnawing off his own leg.

His saving grace came in the form of a classmate. Oona was a pretty brown haired girl with the biggest green eyes Emil had ever seen. She had approached him after one particularly gruelling lecture and had suggested that they study together some time, which was why Oona was going home with him that day.

Emil unlocked the front door and let Oona in before him. She thanked him as she slipped her shoes off and shook the snow from her hood.

"Would you like anything to drink?" Emil asked her as he walked into the kitchen, rubbing at his hands to fight off the worst of the cold.

"Tea would be lovely."

Emil grabbed the fruity teas down, selecting the cinnamon apple flavour before putting the kettle on to boil. He took out two mugs before dumping in the teabags.

"So what topic should we start on?" Emil conversationally asked as Oona slipped into a seat at the kitchen table, taking her textbook and phone out of her bag.

"I'm struggling a little on the environmental side. Could we start on that area?"

"Sounds good to me." He replied as the kettle clicked, signalling it was done. He poured out the hot water, gave them a stir, and put them onto the kitchen table with a little tea bag plate in between them. Oona thanked him as she flicked through the pages of her textbook.

Lalli peered in from the living room. He was sprawled out under a blanket on the settee, peeking out over the arm with narrowed eyes. Who was this stranger? Why was she with Emil? What was she doing here?

He had zero intention of moving to find out, however.

Tuuri, on the other hand, did not seem to get the message of 'do not disturb us' and tromped straight into the kitchen. She acted surprised when she saw Oona as if she hadn't been intently watching them walking down the path towards their house, and listening in on their conversation for the past five minutes.

"Oh!" She had mock gasped, hand fluttering to her chest, "I'm sorry I didn't realise you were here! You must be Oona, I'm Tuuri."

"It's a pleasure to meet you." Oona replied, pausing in her note taking.

"Likewise. I'll just grab some juice and leave you be."

Oona simply got back to taking her notes. Tuuri grabbed some apple juice and went back into the living room, drawing the curtain that separated the two rooms and blocking off Lalli's line of sight.

"Hey!" He hissed at her.

"It's rude to stare." She simply hissed back. "I grabbed you some juice, I know you haven't had anything to drink today." She placed the juice beside Lalli on the floor. "It's apple."

Lalli grumbled a thank you.

This seemed to satisfy Tuuri, as she retreated into her room. Lalli could hear her furiously tapping away on her keyboard and could only assume she was engrossed in her gossip circles again, nattering away to others who seemed to care about this kind of drivel.

Although, Lalli silently admitted to himself, he did also quite enjoy a bit of gossip now and then. Emil? Desperately so.

He didn't know about Mikkel, though. It felt as though he would relish in gossip, however Lalli had never seen him actively pursue it at all.

Lalli wrapped the blanket tightly around his shoulders and squeezed his eyes shut, willing the voice of the stranger to stop and vanish.

* * *

Tuuri would scold him terribly for this, he knew, but he couldn't stay in there. The stranger was unsettling, very very unsettling, and he did not like her. Not one little bit!

So, of course, he ran. He ran and he ran and he ran.

His arms were sore from where he'd picked and scratched at them, drawing blood and ripping skin. It would be sensitive for a few days, he knew, but he couldn't bring himself to be too bothered by it.

The cold bit at his feet, rain soaking him through to the bone. The flimsy coat he'd thought to bring with him as he clambered out the window wasn't doing much in the way of warmth, but it kept the worst of the cold out and it did keep his upper body dry. His shoes were sodden and heavy, however, and he had little faith that they'd be the same when they dried out.

When Lalli finally looked up, he found that he'd ran into the park. It was a good 20 minute walk from the apartment - 10 if you ran like he did - so he was fairly confident that he wouldn't be found so soon. The trees offered some solace from the rain, so Lalli found a bench that was placed under one, and perched on the damp surface. He curled himself up into a ball, tucking his legs under his coat, rested his forehead against his knees, and began to hum.

His phone vibrated in his pocket. He ignored it.

His phone vibrated again, more insistent. He ignored it.

A few moments passed, and Lalli thought he was finally going to be left alone, when his phone vibrated again. And again. And again, in a rhythm. Someone was trying to call him. Groaning, Lalli wriggled his phone out of his wet pocket and looked at the caller ID. Tuuri.

Lalli considered putting the phone back in his pocket, but decided not to. He simply stared at his screen, wondering what to do, when the call dropped.

Oops.

With numb fingers, he gingerly unlocked his phone and went to call Tuuri back. Evidently she had beaten him to it, as not even a second after he had fumbled in his passcode did his phone start vibrating with a call again.

Gingerly, he answered.

The Finnish that spilled out of his phone would have put every sailor that graced this docks at home to shame. She sounded like she'd been crying.

"Lalli!" She gasped once she'd finished her furious tirade, "Where are you?!"

"Outside." He replied. His teeth were chattering.

"Why? Why did you run away?"

"That stranger was weird. Didn't want to be near her."

"Don't be rude." Tuuri scoffed. "Come home. Now."

"Is she still there?"

"Yes, but-"

"Then no." Lalli replied before putting the phone down. He could almost hear the offended sound Tuuri would have squawked in indignation.

He put his phone onto do not disturb and crammed it back into his pocket, returning to his previous position. Streetlights around him began to flicker, the wind picking up slightly.

Maybe he shouldn't have gone so far. His legs felt like lead and his head swam. If anyone tried to start anything with him, Lalli wasn't sure if he'd be able to get away or even put up some kind of resistance. Nobody would be nearby to help him, or even to hear him.

"-li!"

Lalli twitched. Who was shouting at this time?

"-alli!" The voice sounded closer now, and he could hear rapid footsteps. Someone was running towards him.

Lalli shrunk in on himself, willing them to run straight past him.

"Lalli!"

They were calling his name. Lalli strained to hear them again.

"Lalli! Where are you?!"

Emil. It was Emil. He chewed on his lip. He didn't want Emil to find him like this, to see him shaking this hard, his body frozen and his fingers turning blue from the cold. He didn't want that, he didn't want that at all.

But, alas, the universe was a jackass. Emil audibly gasped when his eyes fell on Lalli, his hands raised as he was about to shout his name again. His chest heaved with every breath he took, panting heavily from running so hard.

" _Lalli_! Oh gods, Lalli!" Emil ran over to him, his hands shaking for entirely different reasons. "Are you okay?"

Lalli shook his head, teeth clattering together.

"Do you want to go home?"

He shook his head again.

"Can I sit next to you?"

Lalli paused for a moment before slowly nodding. Emil carefully sat next to him, making sure to leave space between them. He knew Lalli was weird about physical contact - if he wanted it, he'd initiate it. If it was uninvited it'd be shrugged off with a sour look and a low grumble.

"Oona's gone now." Emil said quietly, quiet enough for Lalli to pretend he hadn't heard if he had wanted to.

"She's unsettling." Lalli replied, voice muffled by his knees. Emil had to strain his voice to hear it.

"How so?"

"I don't know." Lalli scrunched his face up even though Emil wouldn't be able to see it. "Something is off about her."

Emil felt inclined to agree, his face heating up as he remembered what she'd said and done before she left. He could dwell on that later, though.

"I don't think she'll be over again any time soon." Emil replied.

Lalli suddenly felt incredibly guilty. Was it his fault? Did Emil now think he couldn't have friends because of him?

A gust of wind whistled in the trees behind them, shaking branches and showering them in more rain and sodden leaves. Emil made a disgusted sound while Lalli snorted with laughter into his knees. He peeled his face off the damp fabric to look up at Emil, mirth glittering in his eyes as he watched the Swede peeling wet leaves from his face and out his hair with a look of pure distaste.

He reached out and gently brushed one out of Emil's hair with his fingers, careful to not stare at Emil. Tuuri had told him it was wrong to stare at people, so he wouldn't do it.

It did make him notice how much Emil was trembling, though. And that Emil wasn't even wearing a coat - simply the thin jumper he wore inside. It looked as though Emil had just tugged on his shoes and ran.

He felt terrible.

"I think I'm okay to go home now." Lalli quietly said as he glanced at Emil's face, internally cringing at how pale it was, and at the smear of purple on his lips. He was very, very cold.

Emil nodded and the two walked back together, Emil nattering away to Lalli despite the lack of response the other was giving.

Once back home, Emil shoved Lalli into the downstairs bathroom and had told him to strip from his wet clothes and shower before disappearing upstairs. Not wanting to talk to anyone else - especially Tuuri - Lalli did as told. Emil came back a few moments later and knocked on the door before coming in. Lalli was already in the shower, so Emil left the clothes he'd brought on the toilet seat before leaving.

When Lalli came out he felt much, much better. He was warm, he could feel his feet again, and he found himself wanting to talk to Tuuri. Anyone else would still bother him, though. Family. He was fine with family.

As he towelled his hair dry, he peeked over at the clothes Emil had brought. At the top, front and centre, was a hoodie he didn't recognise, but there were Swedish words on it, which only lead him to assume that it was Emil's hoodie. Lalli wondered why he'd bring that, but ultimately decided to not think too much about it.

The hoodie was at least three sizes too big for Emil, which meant it was absolutely drowning Lalli. There was more hoodie than Lalli.

He tugged on the pyjama bottoms Emil had grabbed from the drier (he could tell - they still smelled strongly of their detergent) and grabbed his slippers before cautiously opening the bathroom door.

No one was in the kitchen.

Good.

He slipped out, wriggling his foot into his slipper, and made his way to Tuuris room.

Sure enough, there she was, curled up in bed clinging to her pillow like it was the only thing on Earth. He carefully perched on the end of her bed.

"I'm sorry for running like that." Lalli said.

Tuuri suddenly sat up, almost throwing her pillow to the floor.

"Wh-when did you get back?!" She cried, throwing her arms around him and hugging him tightly. Lalli wanted to wriggle away and re-establish some distance but he knew it was futile, so he simply accepted it.

"About half an hour ago. Emil made me shower."

"Emil found you?" Tuuri asked. "I thought he was taking Oona home?"

Lalli just shrugged. Like he'd know.

"Oh well," she continued, "it doesn't matter. You're home now. I'm so sorry I shouted at you, I was so scared." Her hands tightened on Lalli's shoulders.

Lalli simply hugged her back for a few moments before wriggling away. Tuuri reluctantly let him go.

"Please, please don't do that again." Tuuri sniffed. Lalli noticed the tear tracks on her cheeks.

"I wont." Lalli promised.

"We'll talk about this in the morning." Tuuri wiped at her eyes. "Go to bed, okay? Get some sleep."

Lalli bid her goodnight before leaving. He meandered into the living room to see if he could find Emil, and instead found Sigrun and Mikkel.

"Hey, Twig! Where'd you run off to?" Sigrun asked. She had asked it casually, but the look in her eye and the way she held herself told Lalli that she was far from impressed with him and that the wrong answer would get him into a _lot_ of trouble.

"The park." Lalli truthfully replied. "Needed some air."

"Next time, let us know, yeah?" She cheerfully replied. She turned back to her book and continued to tap her pen on her lip.

Lalli walked towards his room, but paused at the staircase.

Was it worth apologising to Emil, too?

Maybe he'd go in under the guise of giving back the blanket.

He retrieved the blanket from where he'd stashed it under his bed and went upstairs, gently knocking on Emil's door before letting himself in.

Emil was leaning against his bedpost, breathing heavily with a huge bottle of water in his hand. He had a thin sheen of sweat on him, and Lalli almost thought that he should have waited before coming in until he saw the padded mat on the floor and he realised that Emil had been working out. It clicked in his head. Army. Of course he'd be working out.

"Thanks for this." Lalli said, putting the blanket down on Emils bed. The other watched him carefully, hair sticking to his forehead and neck.

"Don't mention it." Emil replied before gulping down some water. Lalli paused by the door for a moment as he steeled his nerves.

"Thanks for… finding me." He quickly glanced at Emil to see the other staring back at him with bright eyes before he felt his nerves fall out of him straight through the floor, and he bolted.


	3. Chapter 3

Lalli dug his hands deep into his pockets as he waited for Tuuri to leave her lecture.

It was Friday afternoon, exactly three days since the _incident_. She had seemed to have forgotten about their promise to talk about it, which suited Lalli just fine. He wasn't sure if he even had the words for it, in Finnish or not. His mind went back to Emil's hoodie, still stashed safely under his bed. The fabric inside of it felt delightful against his fingers, and Emil had insisted that he could keep it for a little longer if he wanted to. The blanket had returned into his possession too after Emil had caught Lalli snooping around for it yesterday. He didn't ask many questions about it.

The hallway was relatively empty apart from a few people hovering around, waiting for their own lectures to start, and a handful of people sitting on the coffee stained sofas clustered around a sticky table. One of them held a sketchpad bigger than they were, and they were furiously scribbling away. Every so often, they'd peek over the top of the pad and glance at Lalli before continuing to scribble. He tried to ignore it. They probably weren't looking at him, he was just being paranoid-

They had eye contact.

Yup. They were drawing him.

He wasn't entirely sure how to feel about that.

His saving grace was unexpected and certainly wanted. He heard him before he saw him, the gibberish that he called his native language making Lalli perk up immediately.

Emil? Was it Emil? He could hide behind him. Emil wouldn't mind, he wouldn't ask annoying questions.

Then he saw the blond hair and the stupid boots Emil insisted on wearing when it rained, and the Swedish became clearer. Lalli still didn't understand a single word of it, but he knew for definite that his mind wasn't playing tricks, and Emil was walking straight towards him. He was on the phone, happily nattering away, but he paused when he looked up and saw Lalli. A grin split on Emil's face, and he quickly said something in Swedish that sounded like an excuse of some kind and he stashed his phone into his pocket before walking towards Lalli with purposeful strides.

"Lalli! I didn't think you'd be here." Emil said, stopping just in between Lalli and the person who was drawing him. Lalli shifted slightly so he was almost totally obscured from view.

"Waiting for Tuuri." He replied, peeking over Emils shoulder to glare at the person with the sketchpad. They didn't seem to notice, their eyes still glued to the page as their pencil continued to scratch away. Emil threw a glance over his shoulder to see what had Lallis attention.

"Who're you glaring at?"

"The one with a sketchpad. They wont stop staring at me."

"Take it as a compliment."

"I don't want to be stared at."

Emil shifted slightly to better obscure Lalli from view. "This better?"

Lalli nodded. It was still kind of hard to hide; Emil was shorter than him, and he wasn't about to bend his knees just to sink down a few inches. It'd have to do.

"So are you and Tuuri going anywhere together?" Emil asked. Lalli shook his head.

"Just going home." He simply replied, "We were going to go to the fair but apparently it's too wet." Lalli sounded somewhat bitter.

"You wanted to go?"

"I've never been to one."

A plan slowly started forming in his head. The fair was apparently a yearly event; when the days started to get shorter and the nights unforgivingly cold, the fair would rock up in the park nearby and stay there for a few weeks. When they walked home, they could see the bright lights illuminating the night and could faintly hear the music.

"We could still go." Emil replied.

"Tuuri would complain. It's irritating."

"Just means she cares."

"It's still irritating."

Emil didn't know how to reply to that, so he simply shrugged. "How long have you been waiting here?"

"A while. She's meant to be out soon."

"We should go sit down." Emil gestured to the seating area behind him. The sketchbook was now abandoned on the table, the person holding it typing away on their phone a mile a minute. Almost everyone else who was sat there had now left, evidenced by abandoned paper coffee cups and random bits of coloured plastic. Lalli scrunched his nose up at the litter, but followed Emil over. The Swede was careful to place himself between Lalli and the other person.

Lalli pulled his phone out as he tucked his knees under his chin, unlocking it with his thumb before opening up an app and fiddling around with it. Emil leaned over his shoulder and watched.

"I've found the perfect couple for you." The other person excitedly said. They both jumped and glanced over to see that they were on the phone, excitedly chattering away to their phone. "I did some sketches – yes I'll send them to you – do you want me to get their deets now?"

Emil and Lalli shared a look. Lalli slowly put his phone back into his pocket and looked as though he were about to bolt. Emil grabbed onto his sleeve.

"Traitor!" Lalli hissed into his ear.

The other person looked away from their phone to where the pair had been standing just moments ago and faltered. "Aw, dang!" They slapped their knee in frustration, before their eyes fell onto Emil and Lalli.

"Oh! Hi!" They chirped, extending their hand towards them. "Sorry, this is totally awkward isn't it? I'm a fine arts student, and we have to do a photography project. You two fit the bill perfectly."

Emil firmly shook their hand, an easy-going smile gracing his face. "I'm Emil," He introduced himself before gesturing to Lalli, who was now hiding behind Emil as best he could while glaring over his shoulder, "and this is Lalli. I'm sorry he's glaring, he's not too fond of strangers."

"Understandable, it's a pleasure to meet you both." They laughed. "Oh, I haven't even told you my name! I'm Dylan."

"Likewise. So, you want us," Emil gestured between the two of them, "to help you with your project?"

"Yes, please." Dylan perked up. "My partner Sophie is the photographer of us, so she'll be the one taking your photos, but I'll be there too!"

"I'm up for that." Emil said, smoothing his hair. He hoped it didn't look too windswept. He glanced down at Lalli who was staring back with accusing eyes that screamed ' _how dare you_!'

"And Lalli?" Dylan asked, leaning over slightly to get a better look at Lalli. Lalli remained silent.

"Still thinking about it." Emil said after a beat of silence. "Do you have a contact number?"

Dylan rummaged in their bag and took out two slips of cardboard, handing them both to Emil. "Both of our numbers and an email to contact us with!" Dylan happily chirped. "I've gotta dash to my seminar, give us a ring! See you around, Emil, Lalli." Dylan picked up their sketchpad and bag in one fluid movement before running down the hall, dialling a number on their phone and excitedly squealing down the line.

"You know them?" Tuuri asked, leaning against the arm of the sofa Lalli was currently squashed up against Emil on.

"I have no idea who they are." Lalli grumbled.

"They want us to model for them." Emil looked up at Tuuri with a look of wonder, and she swore she could see him sparkling.

"Any idea why?"

"They said we look the part." Emil proudly replied, fluffing his hair. He preened proudly while Lalli just snorted at him, hopping up to his feet.

"I don't wanna do it."

Emil made a crestfallen sound.

"It'll be good for you." Tuuri tried to bargan with him.

"Don't care."

"Well…" Tuuri uncertainly looked at Emil, the sparkles gone and his hair looking a little flatter, "I wont make you. Are you guys ready to go home?"

The three walked home together, Lalli with his headphones on while Tuuri and Emil chatted together. Emil found himself looking wistfully at the fairground, and glanced behind him to see Lalli doing the same. Tuuri was busy fiddling with her umbrella instead and completely missed it, swearing to herself in Finnish as she tried to get the mechanism unjammed.

The plan solidified in Emil's mind. He was going, and he'd drag Lalli if he had to. Screw it, he'd _carry_ him.

Once they were home, Tuuri immediately dumped her things in her room and changed into her pyjamas. Lalli put his things back into his room, and gave Emil a questioning look when they grabbed onto his sleeve.

"Don't get changed, we're going."

"Going where?"

"The fair. I know you want to go."

Lalli wistfully looked out the window where the colourful lights could faintly be seen on the horizon.

"I do..." Lalli quietly said.

"Then give me a moment to put this in my room, then we can go." Emil said as he released Lalli. Lalli nodded as Emil grinned at him before darting upstairs.

A few moments later he came back down. "You ready?"

The Finn nodded.

They slipped their shoes on in unison, promised Sigrun and Tuuri that they'd win something for them, and headed out. They passed Mikkel on the way who made them promise to be back in time for dinner.

Entry to the fairground was free to students, thankfully, but the rides were extortionately expensive. £2 for thirty seconds? No, thank you!

Lalli didn't seem to care though, completely uninterested in the rides. He gripped onto Emil's sleeve as the two walked around, the cotton candy the Swede had bought in Lalli's free hand. His eyes were bright as he looked around, occasionally having a nibble of the sweet treat.

"We could go on the Ferris Wheel," Emil said, pointing up at the bright object, "The line's not too long, and we'd be able to see our house from the top."

"Sounds fun." Lalli replied, letting Emil guide him over to the queue.

Lalli handed Emil the money for his ticket, and when they reached the front of the queue Emil paid for their tickets and hopped into the carriage. Lalli climbed in after him, slightly uncertain.

The ride attendants stared at them, leaning over and whispering to each other. He thought he saw their mouths work over the word 'date', and he quickly buried his face into his scarf to hide how his cheeks began burning.

This wasn't a date. This couldn't be a date.

Lalli looked over at Emil, surrounded by bright colourful lights with a huge grin on his face. He didn't know what was brighter, the smile illuminating Emil's face or the fairy lights that rimmed the carriage.

It could be a date.

"I think..." He began, burying his face into his scarf, "I can do the photo thing. If I'm with you."

"Really?!" Emil excitedly replied, almost jumping on the spot. Lalli nodded. The carriage rocked a little.

"Only if I'm with you." He quickly insisted.

"I-I'll let them know." Emil cheesily grinned up at him. "Thank you, Lalli."

Emil took out his phone to let Dylan know and glanced at the time.

"Oh, shit, we'd better get home after this. It's pretty late."

Mikkel was going to be cooking _them_ for dinner if they weren't home soon. As soon as the ride ended, the two sped off and away, cramming as much candyfloss into their mouths as they could as they speed walked home. And if Lalli held onto Emils hand as they walked? No one mentioned it.

* * *

The next day found Emil sitting in the uni café, a half-drunk mocha next to him as he poured over his notes and flicked through his textbooks. Exams were still a good few months away, but it never hurt to be prepared.

His earphones were tightly in his ears, music softly playing to block out the general sounds of the café.

The door opened, and a familiar brunette waltzed in.

"Oh, hi Emil!" Oona skipped over to him, almost spilling her tea. "Thanks for letting me come over a couple days ago. It was really helpful, I hope we can do it again some time."

Emil looked up from his notebook, taking out an earphone and politely smiling at her.

"It was, wasn't it? I'm sorry we had to cut it off before we started to get into it." He replied as he paused his music. "I was just going over some of the lecture notes."

Oona slipped into the seat opposite him. "Can I take a look?"

Emil slid over the pages he'd already scoured over as he returned back to reading his notes, finding pages in the text book that linked to what he'd written.

The university cafe had a low hum of chatter rippling through it, with students coming and going to get their caffeine and carb fix. Oona took out a small pot of pasta as she scrawled down page numbers on her own notes.

Oona had busied herself with making notes from the textbook when Lalli wondered into the cafe, an iced coffee from the corner shop clasped in his hand. When he spotted Emil, he made a beeline for him before leaning on the back of his chair, burying his face into the fur of Emil's hood.

"Hi Lalli," Emil ruffled the top of Lalli's head, earning him a sound of displeasure, "did you want to sit down?"

Lalli nodded his head before slowly sliding into the seat next to Emil, leaning heavily against him as his eyes squeezed shut. God, he was so tired.

"Pull another all nighter?"

Lalli could only nod. He was too tired for words.

"I'll make you coffee when we get home."

"Latte." Lalli simply replied, mouth barely moving.

A few moments later, Oona ripped a page from her notebook and handed it to Emil.

"I got hold of that obscure paper the lecturer was on about, I made you a copy of my notes." Oona dashed a line under a reference. "This is the reference for it."

"Thanks, that's very helpful." Emil flicked through the pages, silently admiring her neat handwriting. "These will be good for the report."

"Glad to be of help, it's the least I could do." Oona smiled into her tea before quickly glancing at Lalli. He was still leaning against Emil, arms lightly crossed over his chest as his eyelids fluttered shut every few moments, the man jerking himself awake every few moments. He looked exhausted.

She frowned slightly before quickly smoothing it over and taking a sip of her now lukewarm tea. She struggled to not pull a face. _Gross_.

Her phone chimed, and she fished it out of her bag to see what it was trying to tell her.

"Oh, shit!" She cursed, quickly grabbing her notebook and hastily stuffing it into her bag. "I'm sorry, something's come up at the flat, I gotta dash." She stood up, knocking her knees onto the table. With little more than a grimace she quickly sped away, her phone now pressed into her ear.

Emil tidied up the table a little bit before silently getting back to work. Lalli let his bones turn to jelly as he rag-dolled against him.

"She left her tea."

Emil just hummed, slowly turning the page of his textbook.

Lalli frowned.

With a sound of displeasure, Lalli peeled himself off Emil's shoulder, grabbed his drink, and strode away. Tuuri would liken it to a toddlers tantrum - he knew she would, he could practically hear her saying that - but unless Emil mentioned it to her she wouldn't know and so he wouldn't be getting a lecture about it.

* * *

Tuuri looked up from the coffee table when she heard someone come in the front door. Lalli looked positively thunderous and didn't even offer her a hello as he beelined for his room. Deciding it was best to let him have his tantrum, Tuuri remained at the coffee table and counted down the minutes.

One.

She turned the page of her book.

Two.

Notes were scrawled onto a page, her pen gliding smoothly on the paper.

Three.

A quote was copied down.

Four.

Tuuri glanced at Lalli's door before looking over at the kitchen. She wondered if they had any cookies left.

Five.

Tuuri pushed herself to her feet, abandoning her studying in favour of her cousin. She found a selection of biscuits, including the packet of Maryland cookies that she'd managed to hide away from Lalli's thieving fingers, and quietly opened Lalli's bedroom door.

A pair of bright blue eyes stared at her from under the bed.

Tuuri walked over and sat on the mattress, the selection of cookies set out next to her. She glanced around the room and noticed Emil's hoodie crumpled on the floor on the other side of the room, and his blanket flung hap-hazardly over the desk chair.

Curious.

She plucked a biscuit from her selection and dangled it down by Lalli's face.

"Are"

Nimble hands plucked it from her grasp.

"You"

She offered another one, a custard cream this time. It was ignored, so she swapped it out for a cookie.

"Okay?"

The cookie was swiped from her hands before she'd even properly offered it to him. She could hear him crunching away on it, silently mulling over his answer.

"No."

"Want to talk about it?"

"… Okay." Lalli crawled out from under the bed and sat down next to Tuuri. "Why does Oona always have to be around Emil?"

"She still unsettles you?"

"She's like a negative space." Lalli replied, tucking his knees under his chin and hugging his legs to himself. "It's draining to be around her."

"What's this got to do with your strop with Emil?" Tuuri pointed to the clothes strewn around the room. Lalli felt his ears burn.

"He doesn't notice!" Lalli picked at the seam of his jeans, "I don't understand, it's so obvious."

"Maybe to you it is," Tuuri gently pinched his ears, "But to people like Emil? Not so obvious. He's a Swede, they're pretty dense."

Lalli gnawed on his index finger. "I don't like it."

"Is there anything you could do to ward her away?" Tuuri asked.

Lalli frowned. "I'm not sure. Onni hasn't taught me about keeping people away."

"It may be worth asking him." Tuuri fussed his hair before smoothing it back down again. "You look tired. Want to borrow my hot water bottle?"

Lalli nodded, and while Tuuri set about boiling the kettle, Lalli pulled Emil's hoodie back on and wrapped the blanket around himself as he crawled under his bed. Tuuri came in a few moments later and simply slid the hot water bottle over to him before wriggling under, kissing his forehead, and drawing his curtains for him.

"I'll make sure there's food for you when you wake up." Tuuri promised as she quietly shut the door.

When Sigrun got back from the gym and was about to loudly slam her bag onto the kitchen table, Tuuri quickly rushed over and shushed her, pointing at her cousins bedroom door. "He's finally asleep." She quietly said. Sigrun raised an eyebrow at this but nodded all the same, quietly putting her bag onto the floor instead as she went to get a glass of water.

"Have you seen Mikkel around?" Sigrun asked between gulps. Tuuri shook her head.

"I think he's still in a lecture, he took a first aid course too. Did you need to talk to him about something?"

"The landlady said something about an inspection, wanted to double check it with him."

"An inspection?!" Tuuri squeaked. Oh no, oh no!

"Nothing major," Sigrun waved her off, "Just a little nose around."

"Oh, gods," Tuuri raked her fingers through her hair, "do you know when?"

"This weekend or something." Sigrun put her glass in the sink.

"It is the weekend!" Tuuri melted to the floor. "We'd better tidy up."

"It'll be fine." Sigrun clapped her on the shoulder. "Come on, up you get, the floor isn't a good look for you."

Tuuri begrudgingly allowed herself to be pulled to her feet. "Promise me you'll help me make the place tidy."

"Captains honour." Sigrun replied.

A few hours later, Mikkel returned and confirmed Tuuris fears. The Landlady was coming for an inspection. He looked as though he were about to continue and add something of some importance when Sigrun had interrupted him and started directing people to jobs they could do. At the commotion Lalli had stuck his head out of his room, the hood of Emil's hoodie pulled tight to his face so only his nose could be seen. Sigrun promptly gave him guard duty.

When Emil finally dragged himself home, hands trembling from both cold and caffeine, Sigrun shoved a washing up bowl filled with a pair of rubber gloves, a sponge, a jaycloth and a few bottles of bathroom cleaner towards him and pointed him at the bathroom.

You. Emil. Clean. Now.

Emil resigned himself to his fate as he took off his coat and shoes, pulling on the rubber gloves and steeling himself for what was to come.

"She's not even going to be here until tomorrow!" Emil whined as he struggled to get the small gloves over his calloused hands, "Why are we cleaning _now_?"

"It'll be easier to quickly wipe everything down in the morning than to get up super early to clean it all." Sigrun replied. "So Emil, no dying your hair or whatever."

"This is natural." Emil scoffed.

"You get my point. Don't make a mess."

Sigrun often left zero room for argument, so Emil began to clean the downstairs bathroom. He could faintly hear a hoover upstairs – probably Mikkel. He'd seen Tuuri slaving away with a duster and Sigrun was tackling the frying pan with a scourer that had probably seen better days.

Lalli, however, was nowhere to be seen. He felt kind of guilty when Lalli stormed of, and no matter what he did he couldn't work out what he'd done wrong. Perhaps he had accidentally snubbed him when he pointed something out (Emil honestly couldn't remember what he'd said, much to his own annoyance) but that had never been enough for Lalli to storm away before.

There had to be something.

By the time Emil had finished scrubbing both bathrooms until they sparkled, his hands were raw and his eyes were streaming from the sting of chemical.

With a sigh, he collapsed onto the sofa in the living room, his hands now free from the rubber gloves that had clung to them too tightly and had rubbed terribly. His knees were sore. He gingerly rubbed them, silently cursing to himself as they complained.

Cold fingers worked their way into his hair behind his ears before ruffling it and straightening it out. Emil stopped and looked behind him to see someone in his hoodie, a paper white nose poking out from the scrunched up face hole.

"Hi Lalli." Emil greeted him. No one else had a face that pale.

The face hole was wiggled open, Lalli looking down at Emil with bright eyes. He looked down at Emil's hands and at how sore they looked, skin broken and peeling in places. Nose crinkling, he slid down next to Emil and took his hands into his own, gently touching around the edges. Emil winced and audibly hissed, but didn't protest too much.

"Gently, please."

Lalli dropped the hands into Emil's lap and returned a moment later with Mikkel, whom he pushed into the sofa next to Emil and pointed at the Swedes hands.

Mikkel and Emil shared a look. Emil simply shrugged and presented his hands to the Dane.

"They look sore. Did you get any chemical on them?"

"No! Of course not, who do you think I am?" Emil scoffed.

"An idiot." Mikkel thought, but he knew better than to voice that aloud. He had to be _nice_. So he settled on a diplomatic "Use sudocrem and keep them clean, they'll be fine unless they get infected. Then your hands will fall off."

Emil looked horrified as the Dane left, walking back into the kitchen to continue preparing dinner.

"Was he being serious?!" He harshly whispered to Lalli, eyes wide. Lalli shrugged. Like he'd know.

When Mikkel summoned them all in to the kitchen to collect their plates, they tried to remember which Harry Potter they'd reached.

"I think it's Deathly Hallows part one." Tuuri said through a mouthful of rice.

"I could have sworn it was Order of the Phoenix!" Emil insisted, covering his face to stop any stray rice from hitting him.

Mikkel opened the DVD tray and the Order of the Phoenix stared back at him. Sigrun looked over his shoulder and barked out a laugh.

"Ha, you're both wrong! It's Half Blood Prince next!"

* * *

As the credits began to roll Mikkel stretched, his joints giving a loud _pop_! The others pretended to ignore it, bar Sigrun who had loudly snorted with laughter. When she stood up a moment later, her knee clicked. It was Mikkels turn to laugh at her.

While Mikkel cleaned up their dishes and tidied up the kitchen, Sigrun made a final sweep of the house to ensure it was tidy, nodded to herself, and went upstairs to do god knows what.

Tuuri yawned and stretched, arms thrown above her head and her back arching before she suddenly crumpled inwards, blinking owlishly. "I think I should go to bed, you guys gunna stay down?"

"I've had way too much coffee today to sleep any time soon." Emil admitted, not proud of the fact.

"I've just slept." Lalli replied.

"Don't be too loud." Tuuri said, patting Lalli on the shoulder before retreating into her room. Emil began surfing through the channels available when Sigrun bounced back downstairs again, a movie clasped firmly in her hands.

"We're watching this." She said, putting the DVD into the tray and pressing play. Emil made a sound of protest, mirrored by Lalli who'd been dislodged from his position on Emil's shoulder when the other had lurched forward.

Oh, don't be a wimp." Sigrun scoffed, "It's not that bad!"

Mikkel slowly sat down into an armchair with a steaming mug in his hands. "Are you traumatising them, Sigrun?" He asked.

"It's just a little character building, is all." She replied as she grinned wildly. Emil and Lalli shared a look as they got comfortable on the sofa, pulling the blanket closer to them.

The title screen came up. _28 days later._

"Oh, no," Emil whimpered, "Really? Are we really watching this?"

"Yup!" Sigrun cackled. "Where's Hot stuff? She can't miss out on this team bonding session."

"She's sleeping. Let her." Mikkel replied, taking a long sip of his drink. Sigrun seemed to accept that easy enough as she pressed play and leaned back in her chair, adjusting her hoodie.

"Can I get my pyjamas on?" Emil quietly asked.

"Too late now, pretty boy."

Emil sunk back into the sofa cushions. Oh, this was not going to end well. Lalli's hand sought out his own, and he could feel them fiddling with his fingers. The Finn rested his head on Emil's shoulder, staring blankly at the screen.

If anyone noticed how tightly Lalli clung onto Emil's jumper with his other hand, no one commented on it.

As the movie progressed, Lalli moved closer and closer to full on clinging to Emil, holding onto the other like a lifeline. Emil didn't fare much better, with one hand being squeezed to death by Lalli, the other free hand was holding onto Lalli's arm as if to ground himself. Whenever Lalli jumped he would hide his face in Emil's shoulder until Emil told him it was okay to look again.

As the credits rolled, however, Lalli was almost in Emil's lap, his face tucked against his neck as both of his hands almost bruised Emil with how hard he gripped him.

Sigrun found it quaint in an amusing way, but a firm hand on the shoulder courtesy of Mikkel stopped her from saying anything or from taking a photo for 'memories' (Read: Blackmail).

Emil was quick to run upstairs before Sigrun could rope him into any more horror movies, the two older adults watching him with bemused expressions. Lalli slowly slunk into his room after that.

Under his bed didn't look quite so inviting at the moment.

Sigrun and Mikkel stayed downstairs, quietly chatting as they put on a documentary. When Lalli peeked out, he saw that it was about Gengis Khan. Part of him wanted to creep next to them and watch it too, but another part of him just wanted to sleep. He went back into his room, grabbed his phone, and changed into his pyjamas. After a moments consideration he put Emil's hoodie back on.

Quietly as he could, he slipped out of his room and crept up the stairs. Emil was bundled up in his duvet, sitting up with his phone screen illuminating his face. Lalli crawled up onto the bed next to him.

Emil jumped at least a foot and shrieked, falling to the floor in shock. Lalli peered over the side of the bed at him, the Swede breathing heavily.

"L-Lalli! You can't do that!"

Lalli huffed and allowed a ghost of a smile before he shuffled backwards and let Emil back onto the bed.

"You can't sleep either?"

Lalli shook his head. "I don't like horror movies."

"I _hate_ zombies." Emil grumbled as he gave some of the duvet to Lalli. "They freak me out."

Lalli clambered over Emil and lay with his back firmly plastered against the wall. Emil began to protest when Lalli was on top of him, his face burning in a way that made him glad that the light wasn't on, but all protest quickly died in his throat when the Finn wriggled himself onto the mattress.

Having someone else next to him wasn't so bad, Emil supposed. Made it just a little less scary.

Lalli's breathing evened out as he relaxed, his hands unclenching from their death grip on the sleeves of Emil's hoodie as he fell asleep. Emil found himself quietly watching him, wishing that he found it that easy to fall asleep, when his phone vibrated.

 _ **Dylan**_ _: Excellent! I'll see you two tomorrow afternoon then!_

Oh, shoot! The photoshoot! He hadn't even asked Lalli if he was free then…

Emil glanced down at the Finn, their eyes squeezed shut as their hands fumbled to find something to grab. They eventually found Emil's t-shirt, and they squished their face against his arm.

 _ **Emil**_ _: See you then (:_

He could always ask tomorrow.

* * *

 **Windswept by Crywolf is like, my go-to song for Lalli/Emil.**

 **I also realise that, due to some dialect differences, some people will probably be confused by some stuff I mention here. Sorry guys, I'm British scum.**

 **Let me know what you thought!**

 **~Llama**


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